Recent research from IHS Markit indicates that data center interconnections are the fastest growing segment for coherent transceivers. Currently, metro and long-haul DWDM equipment is used to connect data centers around the world, but metro and long-haul DWDM solutions are overkill to interconnect data centers in campus and urban metro areas. Metro-access DCI are point-to-point connections with fiber reach between 40 and 120 km, making it possible to use unamplified links at least to 100 km, well beyond the capabilities of direct detect datacom transceivers. Coherent telecom transceivers can be used, but they have higher performance than required, are more complex, and are generally offered at a higher price point. They also use proprietary SD-FEC modes that are not interoperable. In response to this, the Optical Interconnect Forum (OIF) has developed the 400G ZR MSA to define specifications for 400GbE transceivers optimized for 80–100 km unamplified links using a grey channel in the center of C band. There is also strong interest from telecom and cable service providers for a DWDM version of the 400G ZR, so the OIF developed a colored version of the 400G ZR specification.

Already known for the innovative capabilities that propelled its cloud and SDN/NFV ascension over the past decade, Netcracker, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, never rests on its laurels and keeps pushing the envelope. This time around, though, the bar was lifted very high. Netcracker has developed and launched a new cloud-based service that essentially includes everything the company has in its OSS/BSS product and services offering. Named Business Cloud, the platform leverages Netcracker’s cloud-based SDN/NFV and IT portfolio—from VNFs to orchestration, OSS, BSS, portals, and a digital marketplace—and offers the complete set as a service to whoever needs to build a cloud infrastructure to turn up new digital services. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

On 18 December 2018, Cisco announced plans to acquire Luxtera Incorporated, a privately-held semiconductor company focused on silicon photonics (SiP) based solutions, for $660M in cash and equity. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of CY19. Luxtera develops and manufactures silicon photonics–based optical transceivers primarily for interconnecting servers, routers, and switches in hyperscale and enterprise data centers. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

On 9 November 2018, II-VI Incorporated announced plans to acquire Finisar in a cash and stock deal with an equity value of $3.2 billion; the acquisition is expected to close in the middle of 2019. The combined company will generate approximately $2.5 billion in annual revenue. The markets for photonic products are diverse and increasingly competitive, and product R&D and fabrication facilities for compound semiconductors are very expensive. Consolidation to achieve scale is a viable strategy to maintain the level of investment required to develop differentiated products serving fast-growing, diverse markets. With the Finisar acquisition, II-VI nearly doubles in size in terms of revenue, R&D investment, and employees. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

Broadband services are the revenue growth engine for cable operators worldwide. In a highly competitive environment where subscriber retention and growth is absolutely critical, cable operators must continue to invest in their access infrastructure to increase speeds and improve the efficiency of their services. Moving forward, DOCSIS 3.1 and Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 (FDX) provide an evolution path to deliver 1G and higher services to the home by leveraging existing coax access infrastructure. The introduction of virtualization in the cable headend, fiber deep initiatives, and distributed access architectures (DAA) are all tools for cable operators to improve the capabilities and economics of delivering these new broadband services.

The European Conference of Optical Components (ECOC) continues to be an annual highlight where optical component suppliers, systems vendors, and the academic community to converge for a technical conference and exhibition. Over 6,500 attendees and 330 exhibitors participated at this year’s event in Rome. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

On 23 July 2018, Infinera announced its intent to acquire networking solutions vendor Coriant for $430M in cash and stock. In an increasingly competitive market with escalating R&D costs, scale is a viable strategic path forward for sustaining the investment levels required to deliver differentiated and compelling products and solutions. With the acquisition, Infinera gains significant scale, almost doubling in size in revenue, R&D, investment, and employees. Coriant also brings a needed element of “secret sauce” to Infinera—its expertise in IP routing and multi-layer SDN control and orchestration—which will be important moving forward for addressing applications including metro transport for cable/MSO fiber deep and distributed access architectures (DAA), 5G mobile transport, and data center interconnect (DCI). The combined companies also stand to benefit from stronger purchasing power, economies of scale, and consolidation of common functions. Infinera expects the transaction to close in Q3 2018. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

In 2017, Cavium, Qualcomm, and Applied Micro were all sampling ARM-based SoCs targeted at data center servers. With Applied Micro spinning off its server CPU business to newly founded Ampere Computing and Qualcomm demonstrating no tangible design wins after announcing commercial availability for its Centriq SoC in November 2017, hopes for success of an ARM-based CPU ecosystem moved to Cavium, and in 2017 Cavium kept the design wins and partnership announcements coming. In January, Atos announced Cavium’s ThunderX2 will power its HPC for the EU-funded Mont Blanc project. In March, Cavium announced a partnership with Microsoft and in November revealed designs for a Cavium-powered Project Olympus OCP server. In May, Gigabyte, Ingrasys, and Inventec announced and subsequently launched new servers based on ThunderX2. In June, Penguin announced its Open Compute server lineup will feature a ThunderX2 sku. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

A few months ago, I was asked by a client whether I thought it possible that Arista will enter the campus networking market. Everything’s a possibility, I thought, but this one seems far-fetched. Arista’s current switching products aren’t geared toward the campus (lack of 1G and PoE offerings), and more importantly, Arista doesn’t have a wireless networking portfolio...

The 2018 Huawei Global Analyst Summit was, as usual, a large, lavish, and information-packed affair. From executive-level insights into the overall direction of the business to more in-depth and detailed insights on Huawei technology across a wide range of areas, this year’s event provided a good overall view of the state of the telecommunications industry with a primary focus on business in China and Asia. A key takeaway is that the carrier networks business is at a crossroads—and it is not clear at this stage whether 5G will be able to come to the rescue. The consumer and enterprise segments, supplemented by a new business addressing public cloud services, anchored growth for the company in 2017. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

The market for compact optical data center interconnect (DCI) platforms is the fastest growing segment of the optical equipment market. In our 27 March 2018 DCI, Packet-Optical, and OTN Equipment Market Tracker, the compact DCI transport equipment segment brought in $483M in revenue in 2017, up 205% YoY. Moving forward, IHS Markit predicts this segment will continue to grow at a 5-year CAGR of +27%. Clients, please log in to view the full content.